


WHO

by NekomuraTsukiyo



Series: I Am: [2]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-05
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-10-18 20:46:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 3,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17588111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NekomuraTsukiyo/pseuds/NekomuraTsukiyo
Summary: "We're free...but who are we?"





	1. "Leader" Chan

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so, the chapters in this work is loosely based on the songs in "I Am: WHO?", and less reference to the MV.  
> This one is less plot-drived and more on their inner struggles
> 
> Anyways, if you haven't read NOT, I suggest you at least scan through it quickly first.  
> If you have...THANK YOU FOR STAYING (no pun intended) and please enjoy this as well!!!

"There surely are a lot of people here..." Felix muttered under his breath. Instinctively he walked closer to Minho. His brother gave him an assuring pat on his shoulder.

"It's alright, Lix, nobody knows your identity here."

The boys travelled along the tunnel, and they - including Woojin, Changbin and the Lee brothers -  _never_ seen such a colourful crowd. People here are truly enjoying themselves. They see people riding a two-wheeled bicycle-like thing, some people dancing freely, and some are just chilling and hanging around.

"They are all wearing sharp clothes..." Hyunjin mumbled in disbelief, "This is...so unreal."

"Yeah, what if we are living in some fantasy or some sorts?" Changbin snorted, "Trust me, Hyunjin, even if we are really living in a fake world, it's still a milliom times better than the place we were from."

"This is unrelated but, hey, we should have a leader." Woojin suddenly said.

"To lead us?" Minho raised his eyebrow.

"No, rather than leading us..." Woojin paused to think about the words, "I should say, to be the organizer? Like, making sure we all get along?"

"I think I kind of get what you are trying to say." Changbin said, "We need a 'leader' who is charismatic yet friendly with all of us, so we can bond properly."

"Similar," Woojin nodded.

"In that case," Minho scanned at all the others and stopped his gaze at Chan, "I nominate Chan."

"Me...? But, I hardly know anything about the outer world..."

"It's okay," Felix replied with a soft smile, "I agree with hyung. You are nice to everyone of us, you are smart - like when you thought changing clothes would be a good idea or secretly bringing us snacks, and most importantly, you have guts to be the first to rebel when you know nothing. At least, I respect you a lot."

"Even more than me?" Minho jokingly teased, and Felix shoved him lightly, "I love you as a brother, but you are not respectable enough."

"Alright alright, Chan is one of the nominees," Woojin said, "Anyone else have other opinions?"

Everyone shook their heads. "Channie hyung will be the best leader," Jeongin beamed.

"Okay, that's settled." Changbin clapped his hands, "Our unofficial leader will be Chan!"


	2. Anxious

"We need a place to stay and sleep in," Seungmin said while they sit down to eat the sandwiches Chan brought, "I mean, surely we aren't able to sleep in this crowded place, right?"

"You're right." Changbin nodded. "Like I said, that empty field at the exit."

"I only brought these..." Felix pulled out a few umbrellas, "For your information, they can be expanded to really large-sized. They're for shelter."

"I also have this," Hyunjin took out a chain of lanterns, "I don't know if we actually need them, but I love them."

"Of course we need them. We need illumination at night." Minho said.

"Great! I thought I have brought useless things..."

Among all the chattering, Jeongin remained silent. Chan settled down next to him, and Jeongin looked at him, surprised by the second eldest's sudden intimacy.

"I thought you look troubled." Chan simply said. Jeongin sighed and nodded.

"Kind of."

"Mind if you tell me?"

"I don't mind." Jeongin replied, "But I'm not sure if you want to hear though."

"I course I would hear," Chan smiled, "You're now my friend and I care about all of my friends."

"Thanks, hyung. So, where do I start...?" Jeongin muttered and exhaled deeply, "Simply speaking, I am still anxious...and I don't even know what I am anxious about."

Chan only hummed.

"I guess it's about home, but to be honest, I don't really like home. My parents don't pay much attention to me." Jeongin confessed, "So maybe it's not about home after all. But other than that, the only thing that I can worry about is my training. But being a messenger is boring, so definitely not about that."

"Maybe it's something related to goals?" Chan asked, "Because I am currently a bit anxious too, and I am thinking about this: Now that we've escaped there, we can live a new life. But there's no longer anyone to rely on, only ourselves. So we are confused."

Jeongin gasped, "Yes! Maybe that's it! Loss of goals!"

Chan patted the younger's back, "Glad that you figured out what's bothering you."

But Chan was worried, because of this.

What are they going to do now?


	3. Worried

"How do we get to the empty field you keep on mentioning?" Minho asked Changbin.

"Do you want to hear good news or bad news?" Changbin asked.

Minho eyed him weirdly, "Good first."

"You're weird. People usually like bad news first."

"That's who I am, so don't judge," Minho scoffed. "Come on. Spill."

"Okay okay, good news is, all our devices can still work, except for our microchips which are our traitors. That means that I can still find every piece of information we need without the danger of being tracked."

"What do you mean? That's great news." Minho hummed in appreciation, "Bad news?"

"Bad news is, this tunnel is longer and more complicated than I thought, so I may need more time to figure out the route we're taking." Changbin explained.

"That's not too bad." Minho said.

"Uh, well. To me it is. You're too carefree." Changbin complained, "Anyways, gimme some time. Go take a stroll with Jisung and Felix first. I could see Jisung thirsting over a muscular guy."

"Typical Han Jisung," Minho rolled his eyes, "If he continues acting like this there's no way I'll give him Lix."

"Tell him in his face, not mine."

"You have a point."

Minho watched Changbin for a couple more minutes, until the younger looked at him suddenly. "Why aren't you leaving?"

"Lix already pulled Jisung away," Minho shrugged, "Plus, if I want to talk about anything, you and Woojin would be the best choices."

"Then go find Woojin. I am busy." Changbin turned back to his computer, but Minho didn't budge. "No, this is a question that I only want to discuss with you."

"Hmm. Is it? Go on then."

"Do you think it's a good idea to bring the others?" Minho asked, "For me, I don't mind, but from their perspective, this is hard."

Changbin hummed. "I understand. But you're not that type to think about this. What makes you think about that?"

Minho thought for a moment. "Hyunjin had confessed to me about his nervousness. I overheard Jeongin complaining to Chan about losing direction." He paused, "I can't say I totally didn't feel the same. What if we brought them to a wrong path?"

Changbin sighed softly, "Guess we'll have to think about it after we settled down. Let me figure out the route first."


	4. Sorry

"Jisung, were you seriously looking at that guy's abs just now?" Felix asked, pulling Jisung away, "That's embarrassing."

"Hey, I've never seen them before," Jisung pouted, "I want to have my eyes blessed. Looking at monitors 24/7 is tiring as hell."

"You're so...carefree."

"Much like your brother." Jisung grinned, but the grin quickly disappeared. "Yet he's charismatic. He always had this mysterious yet mesmerizing aura around him. Unlike me."

"What do you mean by unlike you?" Felix glared at him, "You also have your own uniqueness. You're cheerful, optimistic, and daring."

"They say this is being annoying." Jisung grunted. "They...don't need these kinds of qualities, do they? I am so confused. This is who I am - how am I supposed to change my personality for the sake of my job?"

"Congratulations then, you don't need to endure with that anymore." Felix replied.

"You're right, but I have another issue." Jisung sighed, "I enjoy being free right now, without anyone locking me in a place. But I'm also kinda itching to do something. But I don't know what to do."

"Hmm. I don't know either. Changbin hyung is still finding the route to that empty field where we can use as a base." Felix said, before realizing it's not actually a reply.

Silence fell upon between them.

"Ugh." Jisung groaned in annoyance, "Why are we so awkward? We aren't supposed to be the awkward pair. This fucks up our aesthetics."

Felix let out a laugh.

"You're right. This doesn't suit us at all."

Yet again, they remain speechless once again until Felix spoke.

"I am sorry for dragging you into this."

"What do you mean?" Jisung hissed, "Don't you understand? True, I don't know what to do right now. But I don't regret running away with you guys at all. I hate that place anyways. It's boring as hell."

"I understand..." Felix replied, "But I still feel guilty despite knowing that."

"Nah, seriously, don' mind it." Jisung hit his back, "If you still feel guilty, go talk with someone and sort that out. Minho hyung, Channie hyung...just whoever. Talk until you no longer feel bad for me."


	5. Having voices in my head

_Is that a Lees' issue?_ Woojin observed how Minho seemed to be less confident than usual, while Jisung, who rarely gets mad, lightly scolding Felix. Funny enough, the others seemed to be more comfortable than those two were.  _Something's not right._

Felix had Jisung to rely on, kind of. Although Jisung literally knew nothing, Woojin figured Jisung's positivity could aid Felix. Whereas while Minho seemed to feel most at ease when he's with Changbin, the latter was busy, and it didn't look like Minho trusted him like how Felix trusted Jisung.

Woojin doubted if Minho would confess to him, but it wouldn't hurt to ask.

"Minho." He called the boy, who's spacing out at the moment. Minho looked up, visibly puzzled.

"Want to talk a bit?" Woojin sat next to him, "You seemed troubled."

"So you noticed..." Surprisingly, Minho immediatelt gave in and sighed. "My brain kept on telling me that it's not right to pull you guys into this plan."

"Why?"

"I don't know." Minho hissed, "I told myself,  _Woojin hyung was the same as us. Everyone else agreed themselves and it's not like we forced them to follow._ But my brain said otherwise, that we were wrong to drag innocent people into this mess. That we're making huge mistakes."

Woojin hummed, signalling that he's listening.

"The voices just don't shut the fuck up." Minho continued, voice strained, "It hurts, hyung."

Woojin wrapped one of his arms around Minho's shoulder and soothed him, "It must be hard, isn't it? Dealing with all the stress."

"Y-yeah."

"So far I don't have the same feeling as you do." Woojin said, "So I can't understand your feelings well. But you can see others enjoying themselves, right? Look - Jisung's dragging Felix to the others, Jeongin chatting with Chan, Seungmin and Hyunjin were as close as ever."

"Yeah, you're right." Minho replied.

"Which means that, even if what we're doing is not exactly the best thing, we can still endure it even if it's painful." Woojin looked at the younger, "We're not going tk back down now, are we?"

"No, definitely not."

"That's right." Woojin smiled. "Do you feel better now?"

"Yeah, I think. At least a little." Minho also smiled.

"Great. Now if you feel bad again, come to me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wooknow needs more appreciation and I'm not only talking about this fic


	6. Hesistant (but not really)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another dose of Minbin

"I finally fucking found it!" Changbin yelled suddenly, startling Chan, Jeongin and Minho who were sitting near him, and a few other people as well.

"What did you find?" Jeongin asked.

"I found the way to the abandoned area." Changbin answered, but surprisingly they heard a gasp from a woman nearby.

"Ah, I'm...sorry." She apologized. "I didn't mean to listen to your conversation..."

"It's fine." Chan replied, "But, that place - what's wrong with that?"

"Ugh." The woman hesitated, "That...how should I say that? That place...is cursed."

"Stop that. That's just a rumour." A man interrupted, "But indeed, no one dares going there."

"May I ask why?" Chan asked.

"Because that place is basically completely isolated, it was a blessing to criminals." The man explained with a solemn expression. "People who went there either died or heavily injured. While it's definitely not haunted, it's certainly dangerous."

"But we have 9 people." Woojin said.

"You seemed to be young. Perhaps you might be able outnumber them, but they are stronger than you thought." The man shook his head."

"It's fine." Changbin interrupted. "We've already made up our minds. We're definitely going there."

"Is that so?" The man sighed, "Well, good luck to you then."

~

Contrary to what he said, Changbin was nervous. If what that guy said was true, then he's basically risking everyone's lives.

"Hey," Minho called, "You're shaking."

"Hyung," Changbin groaned, "I'm scared."

"I suppose." Minho replied. "Your concern is much larger than mine. I don't understand it, neither do I know how to tackle it."

"That's not helpful at all."

"I know," Minho murmured, "But surely - with all of us together...maybe we could change something."

"I don't know," Changbin said with much frustration, "What do we do? Rush in there barehanded and just yell, 'Fuck off, you rags!' is probably not gonna work."

"Probably not," Minho chuckled, "But what if we make some self-defence weapons?"

"Hyung, I'm pretty sure they have guns-"

"Actually," Hyunjin interrupted, "I sneaked some from the military."

"WHAT?" Minho screeched, "WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY IT EARLIER?"

"Sheesh, lower you volume." Changbin complained.

"Well, I don't think theivery is universally accepted," Hyunjin shrugged. 

"What the heck are you talking about? We're literally fugitives at this point. Theivery is nothing." Woojin joined in the conversation, "Teach us how to shoot. Now."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't do these kinds of things irl okay?


	7. Having identity confusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _When people have been derived of the freedom to choose for their whole lives, they won't know how to react when they are finally given the chance to choose._

"Chan hyung, Woojin hyung and Minho hyung have natural talent in shooting," Hyunjin mumbled to himself, "Sung, Lix and Changbin hyung just need a little bit of concentration to aim...Seungmin and Jeongin isn't strong enough to fight against the recoil..."

Maybe he needed to think of another way for those two to be able to defend themselves.

"We must be troubling you, aren't we?" Seungmin asked apologetically, startling Hyunjin, "What? No! None of you should have needed that damn thing in the first place!"

"But we need it now." Jeongin retorted, "We need it to save our lives if necessary. That's a fact that I don't want to admit."

"Yeah..." Hyunjin sighed, "Don't worry - even without that thing, there are still other ways to save yourselves."

"But Hyunjin, you know what?" Jeongin beamed, "You sounded like a pro when you're explaining stuff! You should be some kind of tutor or something!"

"But I was chosen to the military. That didn't make any sense."

"Humans are supposed to have multiple potentials." Felix interrupted. Jeongin and Seungmin decided to leave space for the two alone. "Hyunjin, you're really suited for the job of a soldier, but you also have potential in tutoring, and maybe some other talents too."

"Then - what am I really supposed to do?" Hyunjin asked.

"It depends on your heart." Felix simply said.

_My heart? I don't know._

"You must be really confused right now." Felix commented. Hyunjin nodded slowly.

"Don't worry - it's natural. You haven't got to choose in your whole live. That will change." Felix shurgged, picking up his gun once again, "For now, we will need to train to defend ourselves, so your duty currently is to tutor us. Got it?"

"If you are talking about what should I do at this very moment, yeah." Hyunjin stood up, "Let's continue practising while I figure another way for Seungmin and Jeongin."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy birthday to Hyunjinnie!


	8. Clearing Doubts

"What if we try using like a water pipe? Water pipes can be deadly," Jeongin suggested.

"The deadly ones are rusted. That's why they're deadly," Seungmin retorted.

"I'm pretty sure it's not that hard to find rusted water pipes." Jeongin said. "We don't necessarily need water pipes either. Just something long, not too light and won't break easily."

"They seemed to be figuring out themselves, so I think you might not need to worry about them." Felix said to Hyunjin. The taller nodded. 

"That's great." Hyunjin nodded.

~

"So," Chan asked, "Is it about time we go?"

"Yeah, we pretty much got the hang of it." Woojin agreed.

Hyunjin thought for a while, "Well, I guess. How long do we need to head to that place?"

"This place is pretty huge and we need to go by our own legs," Changbin tapped on his monitor, "We need nearly a day."

"We still have food," Felix said.

"Yeah, that reminds me. What do we do about food? Hygiene? Entertainment? Shelter?" Jisung asked.

"Chill, there's an abandoned hospital next to it. Chan and I know how to build electric and water networks." Changbin said.

"Then why don't we live in that hospital?" Jeongin questioned.

"Because no one likes living in hospitals," Minho deadpanned.

"Correct." Seungmin nodded.

"Then we're all set," Woojin concluded, "Is that right?"

"Right," Changbin said, "I'll lead the way. Woojin, Chan, please walk at the back."

~

"Hyung," Felix said to Minho, "Are you okay now?"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb, hyung. I know you were troubled."

"Same to you," Minho retorted, "Explain yourself first."

"Fine, fine," Felix gave in. It's not like he hated confessing to his brother - but Minho's tone could be harsher than what he liked sometimes, "I felt sorry for dragging Jisung into this mess."

"Lovebirds."

"That's not the point, hyung. The point is, I was feeling really guilty even when I knew Jisung enjoyed leaving that place. So I blamed myself."

"Then?" Minho pursued, "Did you resolve it?"

"Better, at least." Felix replied, "Seeing how everyone working hard for everything...I am glad. We might be running into a mess, but at least no one dislikes it."

Minho hummed. "You're right. Me too."

Felix eyed at him in surprise, "You too?"

"Yeah. I wasn't blaming myself, but I did worry about whether it's fine to bring them here." Minho said, "But seeing how everyone more or less enjoyed it, I guess it's that bad of a bad choice."

"Of course, hyung." Felix smiled, feeling relaxed for the first time in such a long time, "We'll be able to defeat anything if the 9 of us stay together."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are going to I Am You era next!


	9. YOU

I just wanna say the new stage is out! :3

**Author's Note:**

> Twitter: @NekomuraTsukiyo  
> Youtube: Nekomura Tsukiyo  
> Tumblr: @nekomura-tsukiyo  
> Wattpad: @NekomuraTsukiyo  
> Wtt backup account: @MoonNight912


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